A Year in Europe

Gibraltar is a good two hours away from where we’re staying, but we really wanted to visit, so it was an early start yesterday. We parked on the Spanish side and walked across the border, and then across the airport runway. Seemed very strange! After walking through the town, we took the cable car up the rock, and almost as soon as we emerged at the top we saw the monkeys and the monkeys saw us — one landed on my shoulders and tried to get into my backpack before I realised what was going on! We walked out to O’Hara’s battery and could see Africa. Quite a stunning view. Walking back down we went into St. Michael’s Cave to see the stalactites and stalagmites. The lighting kept changing colours, which was a bit strange, but the formations really were amazing. Part of it is used for concerts because of the acoustics, but I’m not sure how you’re supposed to find your numbered seat with the way they’re organised.

Sometimes it’s just nice to walk in the woods. This is Sendero Fuente Del Acebuche, just a little east of Alhaurin el Grande. The views were fantastic.

The beaches of the Mediterranean are really not that far away, but seem like a different world. Half an hour down out of the mountains, on a good main road that’s wide and smooth despite having lots of curves and being steep enough to have marked grades in more than one place.

The first beach we visited was just below the castle in Fuengirola (the castle which we had actually been to during our one other time in Spain when Ben and Tim were small and Nate wasn’t even here yet!) A fairly rocky, pebbly beach, but it had a car park, and we were just there for a short walk. Watching dogs play and skimming rocks and enjoying the slightly warmer temperatures than at our house in Coín.

A few days later, we went back down for a longer visit to a more sandy beach at La Cala de Mijas. The boys actually all got in the water! They played in the waves for a good while, and worked together on a sandcastle with several protective walls and ditches to stop the waves reaching it. Eric and I just enjoyed sitting in the sun, but there were other adults (mostly older and probably British) going swimming too, so our boys weren’t the only mad ones!

By Friday after a week of work and assignments, we were ready for a day out!

We decided to head for Ronda, another mountain town, famous for being the birthplace of bullfighting and for the 100m gorge running through the town, the two halves of which are connected by a few bridges. Again, the drive was spectacular, windy (but good!) mountain roads, hills and switchbacks, views that took our breath away. On the way we drove past El Burgo, another typical whitewashed village. We pulled over at a viewpoint shortly after that and took a short walk to admire the scenery. It was cold! Well, to us, it was cold: only 7ºC and I was wearing a skirt and sandals.

When we arrived in Ronda and looked for parking, we were hoping to avoid a repeat of the parking garage in Lisbon. We did venture into an underground carpark but it had two lanes(!) and wasn’t too steep or tight. Quite manageable. For Eric, at least.

We walked past the bullring and to the edge of town, on a cliff, where the views down wouldn’t be fun if you’re afraid of heights! It was easy enough to follow along the cliff edges (there are good barriers) to the bridge, where we could really see the scale of the gorge. We could see paths going down the side of the gorge so decided to follow them. We went down…. and down…. and down… til we were about level with the bottom of the bridge, but the ground was still a long way down. There were still cliffs (and no barriers) so it was feeling a little dicey, but really incredible to see the gorge and the bridge from that angle. And then we had to climb back up. About 80 metres up, in about half a kilometre. A pretty good workout!

We wandered around the old parts of town for a little bit, got some fresh squeezed orange juice and espresso, then decided to head home before it got dark. The drive back was just as spectacular!

We’ve been here for nearly two weeks now, in a lovely house just outside of Coín town, in the hills west of Málaga. The house has some interesting decorative features with a handmade feel, and has 4 bedrooms plus a sleeping loft, 2 living rooms (so Eric has set up his office in one), a pool and a 2nd outdoor kitchen beside it, and several outdoor seating areas. The weather has been pleasant, (OK, it’s warm compared to Ireland but we’re apparently used to warmer weather now and needing to wrap up when it’s 15ºC!) but it’s definitely getting cooler, especially at night. The kids used the pool most days the first week but since it’s not heated, and not even really in the sun, they’ve finally decided it’s too cold. We also have parrots! There’s a large aviary down in the garden with about 15 various birds, including a baby that can’t fly yet, so climbs around the walls using beak and claws. It’s pretty cool!

It’s really hilly here, which I expected, but the road we’re on is a single lane, up a fairly steep short hill from the main road, around a tight corner under a tall stone bridge, and then down a really steep hill. We made it with the trailer, following our host, with Eric driving, but I haven’t actually driven out of here myself yet. I could cope with the hill or single lane, but not both — I don’t want to have to figure out what to do if I meet someone coming the other way on the hill!

Eric has enjoyed the hills for riding, having been out for a couple of short (by his standards) rides, but with more climbing than is probably even possible in Ireland!

The day after we arrived, which was a Sunday, we went looking for a grocery store. The big ones are all closed on Sundays here, and we couldn’t find parking near the small one we found in Coín (narrow, steep, windy, one-way streets and fully parked up!), so we headed to Mijas. Beautiful drive, windy roads along the side of mountains, spectacular views including the Mediterranean, but, umm, no parking. The place was really busy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. A whitewashed town built on the side of a mountain, the streets are basically switchbacks, each a storey or two higher than the one below. Eric found a place to pull over and Ben and I ran down two flights of stairs to get a few basic supplies and then ran back up. It was enough for breakfast, anyway!

That first week, Eric worked many hours more than usual because of a release deadline, and I had an assignment due for my French course about a period in French history, so we just spent our days here. The kids did schoolwork, played in the pool, started learning Spanish on duolingo, and played computer games, sometimes with friends, in the afternoons, as has become our habit.

We’ve made a few short trips out in different directions so far, seeing more of the mountains and down to the beaches, which I will post about separately.

I do not really remember much for the drive from Chevanceaux to Obidos, but I will recount as much as I can. When we woke up (I do not remember when) we had breakfast then we left and drove for 3 hours, stopped, drove, bathroom break, drove and when we got there the host kindly gave us a tour of the house. Then one of the only things we did at home was play chess at the chess set at home. Thats all I can remember.

Left Portugal this morning in rain and fog. A bit clearer as we crossed the Tagus river, and warmer and sunnier as we arrived in Spain. Spending a month in Coín, up in the hills north of Malaga.

We really wanted to see Lisbon, and as we’re leaving Portugal on Saturday, it had to be Halloween! We drove into the city and found an underground parking garage which had an insanely steep and tightly curving one-lane ramp (governed by red/green lights to allow for traffic up and down). It was just a *little* nerve-wracking. Plus it was unclear how to pay to get out. Quite an adventure, but we did it!

We took a bus tour with Caravel on Wheels, which was interesting, especially when our bus had a little incident involving another car on a tight and busy road and we had to sit and wait for 45 minutes while they shouted at each other and sorted out paperwork. But we did see some of the main sights, from Alfama to Belém and much in between. Eric had arranged to visit the office of a company he works with, so the boys and I wandered around a park for a while, before heading back into the old town for Gelato Therapy (really really good!) and then wandering up to the castle. As we were heading back to the car (hoping we could get out of that garage!) Lisbon was turning into a Halloween party.

After that long drive, we got to Óbidos (or really Arelho, a small town outside Óbidos), our host being very friendly, gave us a tour of the house. 3 Bedrooms, 2 with doubles, and one with 2 singles. Nate and I shared the singles room. The next day, I think, we went to Nazaré, because the waves were looking better that day than any other. The waves were 5-ish meters. It was really cool watching big waves crash into the headland and spraying way up. That was a great day out. We also went to Peniche and ran around the dunes for a while.

Unfortunately we are only here for 2 weeks and 5 of those 14 days dad had to go to Washington DC for work. While he was away Mom, Ben, Nate, and I went to the lagoon of Óbidos. It was crazy. There was a maybe 20ish meter gap between sandbars that all the tide water had to get through, because that was the only gap and it is a lagoon at low tide and and inlet at high tide. Anyway we got there and the tide was going out and the waves were coming in. The whole channel was about 1.5 meters deep, but it got that deep in about the same distance.(How I know how deep it was I will tell in a minute) The channel was going fast too. As fast as I can run. How I know how deep it was is because someone waded across it. There were a lot of fishermen out on the sandbar. I do not know why, but there were maybe 15 of them out there. Presumably good fishing.

Other days out include:

A day to Lourinhã dino museum

A day to Sintra, to a Castle of the Moors, and Monserrate palace and gardens

Our day out to Sintra was rather wet and foggy. We got a little lost on the one-way, one-lane, twisty narrow roads in the rain, and as we weren’t even really sure where we were going, it was an interesting day! We ended up visiting Monserrate and, after some breathtaking and angst-inducing roads, we also stopped to explore Castelo dos Mourinhos. The gardens at Monserrate were lush and exotic, the building richly ornamented, and at Castelo dos Mourinhos, the ruins were fascinating and the views were amazing. Despite the weather, it was a great day!